I preached this sermon Sunday morning. Our morning service was a 4th Sunday of Advent liturgically, although the passage about shepherds clearly falls into the Christmas category.
The sermon worked well. I have preached on the shepherds a few years ago, but this sermon had different points. It seemed like a good Christmas Eve morning sermon.
“Skipping Christmas: No Shepherds”; Luke 2: 8-20; Fourth Sunday of Advent; December 24, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp
8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Introduction: last morning of skipping Advent, before we come back tonight to imagine skipping Christmas.
Actually, our reflections this morning move us into the Christmas story as we imagine what it would be like to not have any shepherds in the story.
Move 1: If we did not have shepherds, we would not have their example of our calling to give voice to the message from the heavens.
a. The angels make a grand appearance in the heavens above the shepherds.
1. The angels have a glorious announcement to make.
2. ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
3. it startled the shepherds in the fields who see this amazing sight in the skies.
4. But, then the angels disappear into the night.
5. Gone.
6. No more heavenly voices to proclaim this message.
7. Who will share this good news with the world?
b. The shepherds will.
1. the shepherds give voice to this glorious message from the heavens.
2. First, they will go to Bethlehem and verify the truth (I guess you can only trust angels so far!).
3.. then they will be the first voices in the world to proclaim that God has come into the world,
that Christ has been born.
c. If we did not have shepherds, we would miss our calling to be the heavenly voice on earth.
1. We who have heard the story.
2. We who have laid claim to the story.
3. Now, we have to tell the story.
4. Sometimes with our words;
sometimes with our actions
maybe always with our actions.
5. the story of Christ’s birth is waiting to be told.
Waiting for the shepherds to tell it.
Waiting for you to tell it.
Move 2: Secondly, if we did not have the shepherds, we would not understand the urgency of responding to what God has done.
a. in the middle of the night, the shepherds stop what they are doing and head off to Bethlehem.
1. we do not know the details.
Maybe they left a few with the sheep.
Maybe morning will arrive with sheep wandering around with no shepherds to guide them.
We can imagine it how we want - the biblical text is silent on that matter.
2. But it is impossible to miss how important the arrival of Christ is and the urgency brought to following him
b. If we did not have the shepherds’ witness, we would not understand the urgency.
1. great story.
God arrives in flesh.
God is still at work.
2. A story that demands a response.
Now.
A story that changes lives.
Now.
A story that calls us to follow.
Now.
Move 3: Finally, if we did not have the story of the shepherds, we would not understand the need for witnesses to go back into the world.
a. The Gospel of Luke tells us that after the shepherds had seen the Christ-child in Bethlehem, The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
1. They did not stay or hang out at the manger forever.
they did not move to Bethlehem permanently.
2. They went back
to their families
to their fields
to their lives
But now they were witnesses to what God had done.
b. Martin Luther: “There are some of us...who think to ourselves, ‘If I had only been there! how quick I would have been to help the baby. I would have washed his linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manger!’
Yes, we would. We say that because we know now how great Christ is, but if we had been there at the time, we would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem…
But then he asks the question: if we believe we would have helped the Christ child, “Why don’t we do it now? We have Christ in our neighbor.”
1. the shepherds live into the role of witnesses to the God who lives among us.
2. We are called to be witnesses to the God who lives among us.
Conclusion: In my role as a minister, I've been involved in lots of Christmas pageants in churches. I suppose I did it a time or two as a child.
The time I remember best was being in the church pageant here at St. Andrew in my Sr. year in high school.
The person directing the pageant asked me and two others to be shepherds - if you don’t believe my story, ask Bill Cornelius - he was one of the other shepherds. No problem. We agreed to be shepherds.
At the first rehearsal, we had reason to wonder about agreeing to be shepherds.
turns out the director has something special in mind for that year's pageant. It would be set in West Texas.
So the shepherds had to dress accordingly: shepherds crooks, of course, and the obligatory bathrobes, but apparently on cold nights in W. Texas the shepherds wore long johns. and, naturally, we had to wear cowboy boots.
Clearly, we were the comic relief portion of the pageant.
So there we were. Three shepherds from the fields of W. Texas, startled by the singing angels in the sky and then proceeding with haste to the manger in Bethlehem to find the Christ-child.
I can still remember the sound of our boots striking the tile floor as we walked across the fellowship hall to announce our arrival.
our bath robes and long johns coming into full view to the audience drawing laughter as we made it to the manger at center stage.
But the three shepherds did not care. We were there to see the Christ-child.
We need the shepherds to give voice to the good news from the heavens;
we need the shepherds to remind us of the urgency of responding to what God has done.
we need the shepherds to show us how to go into the world as witnesses to God’s presence among us.
We need to join with them. Amen.
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